How to Collect Scrap Precious Metals

Written by louis gutierrez

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Recycling precious metals can make you money. (Recycle image by sarkee from Fotolia.com)

Precious metal prices have skyrocketed in recent years. You can cash in on the precious metal craze by collecting it from scrap. The easiest way will be collecting precious metal from old jewellery and watches which you can sell at a local pawn shop; but getting someone to part with their jewellery will be difficult so your best bet will be scrapping electronic components known in the recycling industry as e-scrap. The e-scrap will contain valuable metals like gold, silver, platinum, and other precious metals. Once you know how to extract the precious metals you can sell it for a good profit.

Skill level:

Moderate

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Things you need

Gloves

Screwdriver

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Instructions

1

Collect all electronics that contain circuit boards. The most common will be computer motherboards, flat-screen televisions, portable music players, video game consoles, and most electronics. Most electronic devices will have a circuit board, but the only way to know is to open it up and see.

2

Put on the gloves to protect your hands.

3

Open up the electronic devices. Use the screwdriver to remove any screws that keep the case closed. Many times the cases are sealed so no one can open it, in this circumstance use the screwdriver to pry open the case. It is OK to break the case, as this is not what will bring you the most money when you recycle it.

4

Remove all circuit boards from inside the electronics, use the screwdriver to remove it. The circuit boards will be mostly green in colour and filled with small solder points and circuits. The circuit board will be the most valuable part of most electronics, collect all the circuit boards.

5

Take your circuit boards to a smelter to extract the precious metal and sell it. You can locate a smelter via any scrap yard or local directory. Only the smelter will be able to extract the precious metals for you, and will offer to buy it from you.

6

Take the remaining parts left from your electronic scrap to a scrap yard. The scrap yard will recycle the remaining plastics and non-precious metals left. They will even pay you a small fee depending on the weight of the materials.